Calf Creek?

[naturegirl]

Hi y'all! Newbie here, second attempt at posting, apologies if both attempts show up. I found this spear(?) head in NE okla. It's 3 1/2" long x 2" wide, transparent along the thin edges with dark spots in the transparent part. Can't see the dark spots un less you hold it up to the light. From online reading, I guess it to be a Calf Creek made of frisco chert. What say you? I whooped, I hollared, I danced, and got down on my kees to thank the Lord when I found it. Boy that was fun!

naturegirl

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[GL]

That is a pretty one!

 

[Muddy Feet]

Very nice find.

 

[Neanderthal]

Close, it's an Andice, which is Calf Creek culture. To find frisco in NE OK, you must've been hunting the river. Frisco is more common in central OK, around Ada.

 

[savant365]

Nice flaking and very symmetrical. Whom ever made that point was an artist. Nice recovery

HH Charlie

 

[naturegirl]

Andice? Thanks, I'll read about that. I was just guessing on the frisco because of the blueish color and the transparency. Yes it was on the river.

thanks

 

[sidmind]

Very nice, JMHO but I would call it a Calf Creek not an Andice, which is what we call them in Northern Oklahoma,
Neanderthal what signs point you in that direction? flakeing? color? I am certainly no expert!

here is a bit of reading material all about Northern Oklahoma calf creek points.

http://www.dempseydivide.org/calf_creek.PDF

My wife has also found a nice Calf Creek but not near as nice as yours.

Sid

 

[Neanderthal]

The Calf Creek Complex comprises of Calf Creek, Andice and Bell points. However, I dispute many of the "Bell" variants actually belonging to the group. Anyways, that's for another post and time. What ISN'T included as part of the group are the Cossattot River points. However, they should be. They are the predecessors and the earlier Calf Creek points exhibit many of their holdover traits.

For a long time, Perino wouldn't admit to the true Andice occurring up this far north. However, he did change his mind about that quickly after numerous examples found up here in Northern Oklahoma. Unlike some of the more typical Calf examples, northern Andice seem to be almost solely found on, or near, large rivers and waterways.

Ok, What's the difference between typical "Calf Creek" or "Andice?". Your common Calf Creek are typically made on a ovoid preform, while Andice are made from a triangular preform. Both can be very large, and they are usually very well made. Calf Creek stems are parallel to expanding, while Andice go from parallel to contracting (as in naturegirls example). Early Calf Creek examples can have the bifurcated, lobed or even concave base, while Andice typically won't. They also can be finely serrated, yet another trait that was common with the earlier Cossattot River. All points from the Calf Creek complex punch notched, usually very deep. This gives them the characteristic long ears and 'skinny' notches. It's for this reason you can usually identify points from the Calf Creek Complex, even if missing those long ears. Punch notching is very unique and leaves very distinct flake scars on the sides of the stem area. If you examine the sides of the stem closely you will see a row of small, tight, parallel flakes that is referred to as "stitching".

In all likelihood, the punch notching technique probably developed from the northeast and then the technology spread to the west. For evidence, you need only to study the same punch notching techniques on the earlier eastern points such as Lost Lake, Thebes, or even early Dovetails. Studying morphology of points such as these is very important in identifying their configurations and why they are that way.

There are other unique features that were employed by the Calf Creek people, such as their resharpening traits. Calf Creek used a method similar to beveling. They would resharpen one edge on each side of the face. However, instead of doing it only on the extreme edges (as is common with beveling on earlier archaic types such as Dovetail, Cobbs, Lost Lake, etc.) they would drive the flakes to the center. After numerous resharpenings, this would leave the blade itself with a slightly twisted or "torqued" appearance in many examples.

Hopefully some of this will help you in identifying Calf Creek points and understanding where they came from. I left out more that I wanted to say, but I have to run!

P.S. Sid - While Wyckoff meant well with that article, there are several errors in it (which is common with most publications). Also, some of the Calf Creek's illustrated in that article, I have personally cast. I have cast all of the original "type site" Calf Creek points, the ones from the Perino/ Bell series that were excavated by Don Dickson out of Calf Creek Cave in Ark. I have also cast the original Searcy, Rice Lobed and some of the others.

 

[sidmind]

Neanderthal , as always thanks for the info, I am sure naturegirl will be very intersted in reading up on her find.
now it makes sense to your question of why you asked her if it was found in the river.
now I have to go read up on Andice culture!



regardless of what it is called naturegirl has found a very nice artifact!

 

[SoIll]

That is the best point I've seen on here in a while. Banner!

 

[Charmin]

Super find, Naturegirl! We do the same thing in "thanking the Lord" when we find a whole point! kind regards from a fellow Okie~~sandcreek4

 

[Airborne80]

Awesome point!!!! I would have been beyond excited to find that one. I also never forget to thank the Indians for allowing me to find the tools from their time. Great job and best of luck in your hunts

 

[naturegirl]

yeah! super excited here! I found it on my birthday no less! Part of the celebration was a round of "Happy Birthday to me....."

Thank you so much for your responses, this is a cool forum. I love the histories and mysteries of Oklahoma. When I think how long it might have been from my hand touching it to "their" hand touching it, well, y'all know the feeling.

Neanderthal: I took a sideways picture because i thought the curve was something to note. Is that what you were talking about when you mentioned reworking causing a torqued apearance? And thank you for sharing the info, Did you go to school to learn this? 'Cause I want to be an archeologist in my next life. You mentioned casting, I am a moldmaker by trade, and it never occured to me how important casts might be till I started researching all this.

Thanks sid for the reading link, my mind is just racing with all this input!

Sandcreek4: I think we live very near each other!

anyway, the weather sucks today, can't wait for the sun to come out on sunday!

naturegirl

 

[Th3rty7]

Wow, gorgeous point nature girl, awesome material, hard to believe those ears survived so many thousands of years intact, nice one.

 

[Tnmountains]

Yep that is a banner find. It looks so perfect. I deer hunted out in Watonga on the river and am thinking I should have spent more time in the river than watching the river,lol.
Congrats Naturegirl and I learned from reading about your banner post. Rain here too.

TnMountains

 

[Neanderthal]

Neanderthal: I took a sideways picture because i thought the curve was something to note. Is that what you were talking about when you mentioned reworking causing a torqued apearance? And thank you for sharing the info, Did you go to school to learn this? 'Cause I want to be an archeologist in my next life. You mentioned casting, I am a moldmaker by trade, and it never occured to me how important casts might be till I started researching all this.

No schooling necessary, it took a lifetime of studying and dedication. Academic archaeology is great, but most archaeologist actually know very little about the artifacts themselves - it's not their job. They cover a much broader spectrum in studying the people as a whole. It IS my job to know about artifacts, I am a museum curator.

Casting is great fun and very educational. It gives you the opportunity to study the points in great detail, without the risk of damaging the original example. I have cast many points, several of which I'm sure you're familiar with. If you make it to the Stillwater, Oklahoma show in July, I should have several of them there.

The curvature in your point was not from resharpening. In fact, it looks like yours has been resharpened very little, if any at all. The curve is from them manufacturing it from a curved spall. They could have straightened it up, but to do so would have meant them losing some of the width and it wasn't worth it to them. Hope this helps!

Matt

 

[11KBP]

No schooling necessary, it took a lifetime of studying and dedication.

Beautiful point naturegirl !

Great lesson on Calf Creek/Andice, thanks for the explanation Neanderthal.

11KBP

 

[pickaway]

Holy sheet thats a killer artifact

 

[jamey]

wow

 

[RGINN]

Cool find. Neanderthal, what was the purpose of the deep notching on the Calf Creek points and how were they mounted? How were they launched? I've seen that picture of one buried in a bison skull (somebody missed a shot) and it took a lot of force to bury it in there.